Think twice Juan dela Cruz

Everyone have high hopes for the newly inaugurated President Rodrigo Duterte after being elected by sixteen million Filipino voters last May Presidential Elections. He earned the trust of many by living up to his words on his fight against crime, corruption and drugs, as he has proved in Davao City. He indeed came through to his words, as in a few days, crime rates had gone low and the Police Force is really all-out to take punish the people involved in drug trade.

Filipinos truly found the President they are looking for in their newly elected President but they should think twice on the plan of Federalism. Federalism as defined is the distribution of power in an organization between a central unit and the constituent units. The aim of the President is to distribute the power, development and finances of the national Government throughout the whole country, but that is not an easy task to pull trough due to the following:

1. The Bureau of Internal Revenue is not ready

Just imagine, how will the BIR distribute the taxes they collect from the main source of taxes – income tax, which is primarily from the employees. Currently, the policy if you are a new employee to your job, you have to get a TIN on the RDO of your office. If Federalism would be given a go signal, BIR would be doomed as employees would only get a TIN from the RDO of their residency and not need to update in every change of employer.

This policy could go untouched but if this stays untouched, going into Federalism would result to no improvement at all since the ones benefiting from this system are those cities and municipalities capable of providing employment for their territory and are already developed. This policy of the BIR limited the development of other provinces because the taxes paid by the employees are credited to the city or municipality they are working and not on where the employee lives.

2. The SEC and DTI would need to have regional offices

If the aim of Federalism is to have capitalists, then the Government should allot a budget to spread SEC and DTI, the main Government Agencies where people register formally and legally their business, be it a Sole Proprietorship, Partnership or Corporation. Having a legal business should be the priority of every Capitalist. No one would put up their money into a business then be held liable by being unable to register their existence. This should also be done for the Cooperative Development Authority (in case of Cooperatives), Intellectual Property Office (in cases of Copyright, Patents and Trademarks) and even the Bureau of Food and Drugs (for investors in Food and Drugs).

If people are to rely on the main offices of these Government institutions, they may stay employed rather than putting up a business legally and go through the rigorous process of registrations. Travelling from the province trough Metro Manila is not economic especially if you do not know the requirements in setting up your business, you might end up going back and forth between your province and the Metro if you have problems in various requirements.

3. The work force especially those qualified for executive positions are in Metro Manila

This is another hindrance, why would someone put up a business on the province if what they are looking for as executives can be found only in Metro Manila, and those persons are attached to the Metro. If work force or the laborers are to be considered, there will be no problem as they do not require that much qualifications but when it comes to middle to top management, businessmen would think twice if you did not even attain the minimum requirements, some would even require certifications and accreditation from various authorities.

There may be some people qualified in the provinces, but you would go into pirating employees if needed as they are surely working under a reputable organization and might cost big bucks to persuade them to work for you.

4. Business and Politics might collide

Looking at the Philippines, there are notable Politicians who are in control of the City, Municipality or Province. They may be ruling their territories for years or even decades that the people trust them that much. A problem would occur when a business policy might not be favorable to the employees they would report such policy to the mayor, congressman or Governor which would then counter that business policy that might end up not good for the employees if they lost their job in a pull-out or the business that might result to unproductive employees.

We should take note that in the Federal form of Government, policies, circulars and orders can be issued easily and thus, implemented. If the elected officials would not be careful enough to the consequences of their decisions, they might hurt the people, the business and even the whole community.

Having too much freedom might not always be good, but the only thing constant in this world is Change, thus everyone must adopt to the changes to be implemented by the President. It may be good or bad for you, feel free to state your comments below and let’s hope that it would be given attention by the current administration. Thank you for reading.

The struggle in availing LOANS

Once you have entered the corporate world and you are exposed to various types of people and various types of culture, you will observe that majority of your co-workers are in debt. Probably, most them have availed majority of their loans during their adulthood, the time where they are confident that they can still work and are aiming to have their own properties. Majority of them availed a housing loan while some even went far to get a car loan and end up struggling financially for the following reasons:

1. They complain and feel robbed on the monthly amortizations – this the most common thing I have observed, once you availed a loan, you will have to pay it for at least a couple of years to three years for a car loan and at least twenty (20) years to thirty (30) years in the case of a housing loan. The sad thing though, most of those who availed the loan never realized that the bulk of what they pay goes to interests. If only these people would just know opportunities like bonds, mutual funds and various securities, they would not be paying up interests but rather they would earn interests. Interest is a painful expense if you are an employee and relying on your pay check to cover such expense because you are earning a fixed amount of pay check, and the interest you incur does not give you additional income but only gives you self-entitlement to a property that you would want to get rid off after a few years.
2. They did not realize that they would also be incurring additional expenses through insurance – another aspect that every property owner should have if he gives value to the property he invested in is insurance. A simple scratch on a car diminishes the sale price, and a house built on a fault line does the same. If you are a property owner and spent your lifetime earnings through a house or a car without ensuring it, would you be able to save your properties once a calamity through forces of nature and acts of God have damaged your properties substantially? Another waste of money you would be incurring is insurance, like it or not, you would like to have something in return once your investments has been washed up by a flood or wrecked by a typhoon, thus, insurance is a necessity.
3. They would want to get out of debt but are hesitant that they may end up holding nothing once they get rid of their properties – many of them only values real properties as assets. They do not see the value in holding up a multi-million worth of shares of stock that does not need insurance and can be easily kept in a bank’s safe. They only gives value to real properties, properties that can be stolen, damaged and does not give them additional income. They think that owning such properties gives them an edge over others but did not realize that if they had only invested in debt and equity securities available earlier, they may obtain their dream house and car without having to incur interests and insurance throughout the life of the debt.
4. They do not have anymore the financial flexibility they once had – since they start to be on debt because of the properties availed, they did not thought that their financial flexibility would be affected substantially, leaving them with little to no breathing room at all for their necessities. Failing to plan financially results to this scenario, and once a calamity comes to the family, they end up having no savings that would prompt them to do number 5:
5. They avail new loans on top of their outstanding long-term loans in times of contingencies – this has been the common scenario in every person who have availed a loan and failed to set aside a contingency fund. Having a contingency fund for calamities and tragedies makes up a little breathing room and allow you to have a little financial stability.
6. They end up having no financial freedom – after undergoing the above reasons, this would be the end result. Those people who have worked majority of their lifetime end up not having any financial freedom at all. It is ironic but it is really happening. They failed to plan financially, thus end up having to work the rest of their lives and some would not be able to pay out their loans once they retire and depend on their retirement pay to cover such loans. And if worst comes to worse, they end up spending their retirement pay to non-earning expenses and end up relying to the Government for help until they die.

Never seek opportunities, create opportunities

Seeking opportunities through a form of a job is the primary objective of every individual who have entered the corporate world, but once you have that spot you have worked for in the interviews and all, will you be satisfied? after spending your talents, skills, knowledge and time for that job, will you feel gratified? or will you be contented on the whole cycle and are you ready to do the same for the rest of your life?

If your answer is yes, then I pity you for having to waste such talents and time to just rely your fate to someone else. If your answer is no, I feel the same way too. Having to study in the early stages of our life, we think that life’s flow is study in your youth then work until you retire and rely to the government until your last breath.

I may be harsh but it is the real scenario in the corporate world. Employers would be buying your most precious asset, your TIME and if we fail to value our time, we may be receiving a few or more than what we deserve but we cannot complain. Good thing though, is that once we have enough resources, experience and ideas, we can have another option which is to create opportunities through a business.

Through a business, you would not need to seek opportunities to you but rather, you are creating opportunities in the following ways:

1. You are giving employment – once you became a business owner, you will need people to do the day to day activities of your business, thus you are opening more opportunities to the community you are in.
2. You are encouraging development – doing business does not only help your employees but also help the community where your business operates through taxes. Those taxes would then be used by the government to use in various development projects for the community.
3. You are inspiring the community – once you became successful in the business endeavor, the community will look up to you and you may inspire a few people to do the same thing and tackle the same track that you have opened up to them.
4. You may be opening up a tourist destination spot – who would have thought that man made wonders like the Leaning tower of Pisa, Great Wall of China, Rice Terraces or even Castles would amount to such tourist destinations on our time. They were built to be used in trade, defense and/or as a commodity but not as a tourist spot, it just happened that someone appreciated the beauty and the rest is history.
5. You are making use of your time doing what you want – as I have said earlier, employers buy our most precious asset which happens to be our time, selling our lifetime through employment hinders us in choosing our passion, thus, having a free life being a prisoner of employment doing the same thing we would hate the rest of our lives. Venturing into business cancels out that aspect and we may end up in doing what we really want. We have seen photo studios, graphical designers and game developers go into business and those businesses were their life, their passion. We can do the same thing, doing what we want with our time and earn at the same time.
6. You might earn more than what you can earn throughout your employment career – this is the most rewarding opportunity in business, what you think was impossible to earn in the employment sector, would be possible via business venture. Yes, there will be rough times, but once you have overcome those times through hardwork and perseverance, you will surely be on a good spot.
7. You may be able to build a business empire – have you ask yourself if you can leave your post on your current job to your son or daughter once you have left this world? Death is unavoidable, yet the job in your current organization is not transferable to your son or daughter. Unlike in a business, you can see to it that your son or daughter and even your heirs would inherit what you have worked for. This is the greatest opportunity in business, one that we would love to do, and one that can ensure us that we can really rest in peace once our time has passed.

Introverts in the Business World is a Must

It is not a secret to many of us on what introverts can do to the world as we know it. They have made a great impact on how we live our lives since the discovery of their success in whatever field they choose.

Introvert defined is a shy person or a quiet person who does not find it easy to talk to other people.

You may wonder how these introverts could change the world, well, if not for these introverts, we would not be able to share our insights and ideologies on Facebook since its founder, Mark Zuckerburg, is an introvert himself. If not for introverts, we might not afford to have our own computers at home  without the great discovery of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

Most introverts may spend their time alone, thinking, developing, conceptualizing or just observing and waiting for the right time that they have seen to come and do their thing that would make them stand out or prominent.

The same goes for the business world, in business, ideas have to be made, decisions had to be taken and figures have to be analyzed. Being in a team of extroverts is a good one, but strong personalities might just be a battle of ranks than a battle of ideas, much worse if it had been a battle of superiority over the others who would not accept defeat or denial.

The good thing about introverts in business is that they can work out or polish an idea, they can justify an objective decision that have been thought about multiple times after considering most of all factors, and mostly, they can easily figure out ways as to how to solve the problem thoroughly just like how they manage to solve problems on their own.

They may not be good socialists, but they are good thinkers. Having one of these types of people in an organization is valuable as they may observe some things that management may have overlooked, they may have great ideas that would greatly help the business grow tenfold or they may have thought of a possible solution to the problem at hand. They may be shy on a conference or two, but have their insights in a closed door one on one meeting and you might be able to acknowledge them and realize that you’ve found a precious gem right in your very eyes.

They may not be good motivators as they may be shy in talking to others and does not know how to approach correctly but they do not lack values that you would love. They are the best example of the trait “Lead by example”. If they do have the traits and values you would love to see on the workplace, keeping one would be beneficial in the long run.

They can be good advisers as they would expound the weight of a decision to be taken and the drawbacks that might happen. They often see the things in the bigger picture rather than what the common people see it. They also often think out of the box, rather than considering the given options at hand. Having one person that gives a different view of things is very helpful in business, especially on times that a great decision has to be taken up that would greatly affect the growth and continuity of an organization.

They may be the most annoying type of person but maintaining one would help you achieve your goals. Having introverts around may not be comfortable but business itself isn’t made to be comfortable. A good business person needs to maximize the talents around him and every person stand out on one aspect but not on other aspects. Having a good mix of people aiming the same objective working together or alone would greatly help an organization in more ways than one.